ESTEVAN, Sask. – Federal Environment Minister Peter Kent has outlined proposed regulations for coal-fired electricity generation that he says will let Canadians breathe easier.
Environmental groups say the regulations are a good first step, but won’t be enough to meet greenhouse gas reduction goals.
On a visit Friday to the Boundary Dam power station in Estevan, Sask., Kent said the rules to come into effect July 1, 2015, include a performance standard for new coal-fired plants and older units looking to extend their operating lives. However, plants already online before 2015 would be able to operate without restriction for their lifetime.
Kent defended focusing on new plants by noting that “fully two-thirds of Canada’s coal-fired units are very close to their end of operating life,” he said.
“What we’ve done is to avoid stranding capital on plants that still have years left in their operating lives.”
The standard will be based on emissions levels from high-efficiency natural gas generation – which is less than half of the emissions from coal. The government hopes to encourage investment in cleaner technologies such as high-efficiency natural gas generation, renewable energy and carbon capture and storage.
Kent pointed to Boundary Dam as an example. SaskPower, the provincial utility, is spending $1.2 billion to rebuild one of its old coal power plants to pump its greenhouse gas emissions underground.
The government said the regulations, combined with other measures, should cut greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation by 31 megatonnes by 2020. A draft is to be published in the Canada Gazette on Aug. 27 for a 60-day public consultation period.
Environmental groups have voiced concern about the regulations.
The Pembina Institute told Environment Canada last November that it welcomed the government’s commitment in principle to put an end to conventional coal-fired electricity. But the institute said the proposed natural-gas-based performance standard is “insufficiently stringent” and doesn’t go far enough to meet zero emissions.
“It’s really not addressing the majority of coal plants in the short-term,” the group’s Tim Weis said Friday. “It is giving a pretty long period of time before a whole lot need to be done about those plants.”
As of last year, Ottawa said 13 per cent of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions come from coal-burning electricity generation units. There are 51 of them in Canada and 33 come to the end of their economic lives by 2025. Jim Prentice, who was environment minister then, said 19 of the 33 oldest units do not currently meet the proposed new standards.
The regulations take into account that many electricity facilities will need to be replaced soon, Kent said.
“We’re acting now to ensure that power companies understand today, the rules that will affect the new investments they have to make tomorrow.”
But questions have already been raised about whether a coal-fired power plant in northern Alberta was deliberately rushed to avoid new rules.
Earlier this summer, the Alberta Utilities Commission granted an interim approval to Calgary-based Maxim Power (TSX:MXG) to build a 500-megawatt coal-fired expansion to a generating plant near its mine near Grande Cache, Alta.
The approval came after a letter to the commission from Maxim in which company lawyers asked for a quick approval. Maxim’s letter said having to abide by the federal legislation would likely kill the $1.7-billion expansion, which would emit about three million tonnes of greenhouse gases a year – roughly twice the carbon dioxide of an equivalent natural-gas-fired plant.
Kent said the decision was up to Alberta regulators: “that’s not our file.”
The minister said he did not make any promises to Maxim.
“There will be no accommodation for special circumstances. The regs as we intend them now will come into full effect July 1.”
The Alberta government said it wants the regulations to be flexible enough to ensure that coal-powered plants in the province can continue to supply consumers with affordable electrical power.
“I am confident this can be done in a way that is fair to all provinces, especially those that still rely predominantly on coal to meet their electricity needs – like Alberta – because of their unique circumstance,” Environment Minister Rob Renner said.
“At the end of the day, Albertans should not pay vastly more for their electricity than other Canadians due to federal regulations.”
Under its Copenhagen Accord commitments, Canada aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020.
– By Jennifer Graham in Regina with files from Bob Weber in Edmonton
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